Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Advisor

Jeannette Manger

Abstract

Sleep insufficiency is a common but overlooked problem for many people. This is harmful because adequate sleep is important to cognitive, emotional, and physical health. This study analyzed how food environment index, smoking, physical activity, and median household income impact sleep insufficiency on an Ohio population. All data was utilized from the County Health Rankings (CHR) database. This analysis presented that the food environment index (r = -0.676, p < .001) and median household income (r = -0.743, p <.001) negatively correlated to insufficient sleep percentage. Furthermore, both adult smoking percentage (r = 0.735, p < .001) and physical inactivity (r = 0.761, p < .001) positively correlated to insufficient sleep percentage. It is also important to note that there was a significant difference between Ohio and Indiana counties (t = -12.347, p < .001), two neighboring states that both contain a mixture of urban and rural populations. Lastly, there was no significant difference between rural and urban Ohio counties (t=-1.521, p=.132). This data presents that more physical activity and less smoking may have positive benefits on sleep along with eating healthier, more nutrient dense food. Moreover, increased median household income may also positively impact sleep. Lifestyle factors such as smoking, physical activity, and increased nutritious food consumption are all avenues for patients to try to implement into their own lives to improve their sleep. Hopefully, such lifestyle modifications will improve sleep quality and thus result in an improvement in other aspects of their overall health.

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